We Are Young
by defy.expectations
Summary: Set during High School. Kensi & her father move in next door to Deeks & his mother. Kensi meets Deeks' friends and fits into their friendship-family nicely. When Kensi's father is killed, she's taken into the NCIS: OSP as a teenage recruit where she learns that her friends, aren't all they seemed to be.
1. The Girl Next Door

**So I realise from research that Kensi and Deeks are about 6 years apart in age. In this story they'll only be about two years apart; set during high school. By the way, I'm not from LA, nor do I even live in the US, so any mistakes are mine.**

**Disclaimer, I do not, I never have, and will never own NCIS: Los Angeles, or any of the characters. Or anything else in this story, besides the storyline; I came up with that. **

:.:.:

She's fifteen and has been through more things than most teenagers her age. Her father; Donald Blye a Marine Sniper involved with an Elite Black Ops Unit, although she doesn't know this yet, but one day she will. She's tough, she's strong. She's not scared of camping out in the bush, or in the desert for a week without a proper bathroom or bed like most girls her age. She's a fighter, even if she doesn't know it yet. She's independent and smart. But she can't cook, nor can she clean. She could if she wanted to, but she's one of those people who leave things until they really have to be tended to. As for cooking, she's a daddy's girl. Sure, he taught her how to survive in just about anywhere, including how to make meals for herself, but in a kitchen, theres just no luck for her there. Her name is Kensi Marie Blye. By the time she leaves high school, her dad will have been murdered, she will eventually become an NCIS agent, and he will be just another person who came and left her life by the time they meet again.

He's sixteen turning seventeen and loves to surf. It's all he's really grown up knowing. He doesn't cope with being out of the busy life central city of LA; it's just not his thing. He shot his father when he was eleven, with a gun that his best friend Ray had given him. Ray's his brother, by friendship and trust, not by blood. His father's in prison and his mother struggles to pay the bills for the two of them, but underneath it she's happy that they're safe, and that's all she asks for. He's a very tidy guy; he cleans everything and has his CD's alphabetized. He can cook decent meals as well, even without a cook book. The beach is his second nature, his second home. He spends every single morning before school, and afternoon after school surfing; until she moved in. His name is Martin Deeks. When he leaves school, he'll become a lawyer, and decide he wants to help people before they go through court, and turn to the law enforcement. His father will have died, and he will have lost contact with his mother over a fight that wasn't even that big of a deal. Soon enough she will be a faint, distant memory in the back of his mind that will forever haunt him, all because he didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Little do they know that after that's all said and done, and they become best friends again, will fate have a plan for them to restart their chance of a relationship and future together.

:.:.:

It's a bright sunny, cloudless Saturday morning in the city of Angels. Tourists and locals swarm the beaches and markets, the waves are perfect; but Deeks isn't at the beach. He's in his room, asleep after a big night out with the guys. His hair is a mess, styled by a pillow; like it will be for the next 15 years, maybe even longer. His bedroom walls are the colours of the ocean, blue. Beside his bed sits his bed side table, and across the room is his wardrobe, everything organised to pristine perfection. His desk looks anything but a high school guy's desk, spotless and neat. He didn't do mess, it wasn't his style. He made sure everything was neat, apart from his hair.

Outside his bedroom window is a moving van, a big one. Theres a four wheel drive, two people helping the four removalists. The Blye's are moving in next door. Donald Blye looks to be the average single father raising a daughter, but behind it, she's basically raising herself. He works every day, 8 to 5, and leaves for at least a week or two each month on 'business'.

Kensi looks after herself. She may be 15, but she's as mature as you can get. Being home by herself a lot doesn't bother her. She knows that her father works for the Marines, and he's taught her anything and everything he would have taught a son, he didn't have a son though; just her. Her father is helping the removalists with furniture and boxes while she sits on the roof of her father's car swinging her legs through the open car door window. She has headphones covering her ears, studio beats, red. She figures that it's all true when they say that red things are faster and better, she's convinced they're better than the rest.

He gets out of bed having heard a lot of noise from next door. He's sure no one lives there; it's been empty for a few months. He rubs his eyes, slips out of bed and walks over to the window pushing up the blinds. He's blinded for a few seconds before his eyes adjust to the bright sun. He takes notice of the five men unloading things. Just as he goes to step back he notices her. Her brown wavy hear falling over her shoulders, her olive skin tone , the red headphones that sparkle a little in the sun; her plain white top with skinny jeans and ballet flats. All he can think of is that she will be next door. Next door. She will be next door, to him. He can't help but feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.

She's humming along, bopping her head a little and tapping her fingers on the roof of the car to her techno music. She'd dance in the street but that would be just a little too embarrassing for her liking. It's then that she notices a blonde mop walking out of the little house next door. Blonde, brown hair that's obviously not been styled recently and he's wearing faded blue pyjama pants without a shirt. Boy does he look cute. She decides that cute is an understatement, and goes with 'makes you stop dead set in the middle of a road and get hit by traffic' yeah, that will work.

He walks out to the front, collects the morning paper from the footpath out the front. He turns around, walks back inside and shuts the door. His mother's in the kitchen cooking, bacon and eggs with hash browns and toast. "Good morning mum" He walks over giving her a bit of a hug then takes out two glasses filling them with orange juice.

"Good morning Marty, did you notice we have new neighbours? They woke me up at 6am with the removal truck making a racket; hardly considerate for others might I add. I'm making a fresh batch of cookies to take over and welcome them this afternoon, you'll be coming too." She puts the food onto both plates and sits one down in front of her son, the other in front of her. They both dig in.

"If I have to, I was planning on going for a surf but I don't want to be out there while it's crowded." He drinks a mouthful of juice washing down the food.

"Well too bad young man, your meeting the new neighbours with me. And anyway, it looks like it's just the two of them, a father and daughter. Who knows, maybe you'll end up dating her." Theres just some things a mother shouldn't say out loud, or even say at all, it's embarrassing to say the least. But when a mother knows best, she knows best. And that's final.

"Great, now your mission in life will be getting the girl next door to be your daughter in law. Fantastic." He gets up washing the plates and glasses and putting them in the drying rack. They don't have enough money for a dishwasher, let alone a place to put it. But either way he doesn't mind doing little things here and there to help his mum out.

:.:.:

It's the afternoon and Marty and his mother Amanda are walking over to the neighbour's house. The removalists had left a couple of hours ago so they decided to give them some time to settle in. Amanda knocks on the door with one hand and holds a basket of freshly baked cookies in the other. They smell delicious. Marty hadn't even realised the door had been opened.

"Hi, my name is Amanda, Amanda Deeks, this is my son Marty. We live next door and heard you moving in so we decided to come and welcome you to the neighbourhood." Amanda smiled politely and held out the basket of cookies. Marty wished she'd left a couple for him at home, they truly did look tasty.

"Hi Amanda, Marty. I'm Donald and my daughter Kensi is around somewhere. Thank you" He took the basket and put it on the table set just inside the doorway. The table that held spare change in a bowl or a box, and your house and car keys for easy access.

"Kensi, we have guests!" She could hear her father from the top of the stairs. She sighed and put her phone iPad down on her desk before walking downstairs taking two at a time.

"I'm here, I'm here. Ooh, do I smell something tasty?" Kensi walked over to her father and spots the basket of cookies. She almost drools. Almost. "They look great! Did you bake these?" Kensi looked to the lady who was standing on the front porch with the guy from this morning. At least he's fully dressed this time, out of his pyjamas.

"Kensi, this is Amanda and her son Marty. Amanda, Marty this is my daughter Kensi. Why don't you both come in for a cup of tea or coffee?" Donald was giving introductions, even if they'd all just met each other. He stepped aside letting the two neighbours walk in and take in the surroundings. The place was a mess. The kitchen was to the right of the entrance, the staircase to the left. Further down the hall a little was a dining room and living room conjoined, a door which led to the backyard and another door tucked away behind the stairs which led to a bathroom and the laundry. Upstairs was two bathrooms, one with the master and one for the two rooms, one being Kensi's bedroom. All in the entire house was small and compact, but it held everything the father and daughter needed.

"Coffee would be lovely; I take mine with milk and two sugars. Marty doesn't drink coffee. He did, though I had to stop him because he wouldn't end up sleeping through the night. I'm fairly certain he's caught onto one of his friend's habits." Amanda shook her head disapprovingly.

"What kind of habits?" Donald watched her a little as he made themselves coffee. Kensi and Marty had gone to the lounge to talk and probably watch TV.

"His friend, G. No first name, just a letter. He doesn't sleep very well, so he gets up and takes apart the toaster. That's what Marty did when he couldn't sleep because of the caffeine. After he broke two toasters, and not having been able to put them back to a working state, I banned him from drinking coffee. At least until he moves out on his own, then he can buy his own toasters when he ruins them." She took her cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table with Donald. "Enough about my son's habits, where did you move from If you don't mind me asking." She smiled a little and took a sip of coffee.

"Well, long story short. My wife, or well, ex-wife took Kensi with her, and skipped town. Kensi left her mother and made her way back. I called Julia – my ex-wife – to let her know that our daughter was fine, and had came back home. We talked things out, but it didn't change the fact that she wouldn't come back to live with us, we got a divorce, and the house was in her name, so the two of us moved out. We found this house, decided it's perfect and moved in. That's really it, not much of a story." He smiled a little looking distant as he told the not so long story.

"Kensi's a daddy's girl then, correct?" Amanda watched him, he seemed proud of his daughter. Respected her decisions, and was glad that she didn't want to leave him. They seemed close.

"Yes, I suppose she is. I've taught her a lot. Basically everything I would have taught a son, only I got Kensi. So I taught her. She's just as much a girl as a tomboy. We're more alike then she is with her mother. We both are terrible cooks, and are happy to order in. We're also bad with cleaning. So don't mind the house, I'm sure that for as long as we stay here, there will always be a few boxes that will never be unpacked." Donald looks over to his daughter, smiling. She's talking with Marty, and they're playing with a deck of cards.

He knows that they'll be happy here; even if he has to leave for work more often than not. He can feel it in his heart that they've finally found home.

:.:.:

**So, tell me what you think. Sorry for any mistakes. I'm not sure whether to continue this story or not, so leave a review saying whether you'd like me to! **


	2. Donuts & a Chocolate Milkshake

**So, people seemed to like this story so far! This chapter would have been up earlier, but I just had that feeling where I couldn't be bothered and kept stopping every few paragraphs. Everyone from OPS will be in this and they will all be around the same age. After a lot of high school searching in LA, I combined schools together to make up a random one. Here's the second chapter.  
Disclaimer will always apply. **

**:.:.:**

She's sitting on the couch watching _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ with Marty beside her. It's her favourite show. Theres just something about Ninja's that caught her interest, and it stuck.

Marty turns to look at her, smiling a little because he just can't help but think maybe his mother was right. But for all he knows she has a boyfriend or she likes girls. "Want to walk down to the beach and get some lunch at a diner?" His favourite diner is owned by one of his best mates mother; Ray. It's an old place on the corner of the walkway that leads onto the beach but it gathers a lot of customers. The food is great, and the staff are friendly. It's his favourite place to eat out.

"Sure, let me go grab some things, I'll be back in a couple of minutes!" Kensi jumps up making her way to the stairs. She's the kind of person where she likes to get things done quickly; this includes walking upstairs skipping every second one. It's faster. She changes out of her jeans into a pair of blue shorts and a pair of ankle high converse. They're red; they make her walk faster – well, that's what she thinks anyway– She comes back downstairs to find Marty waiting by the front door and her father and his mother deep in conversation. Kensi walks over to the door, pulls it open and walks out with Marty following shortly behind.

"So, what grade are you in?" Marty looks to her then back to the footpath as they walk down the street. They'd been walking in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he finally spoke up.

"Um, year ten; I'm fifteen. What about you?" She looked to him, her mismatched eyes staring into him.

"Sixteen, I'm turning Seventeen in a few months. Will you be attending Mount Flints High School?" He's secretly hoping she will be. It's the best school around. Better than others anyway, but not as great as a private school. Then again he's never really seen what's so great about a private school. It's just a place where people with extra money send their children if they're well behaved or have good grades. Apparently the kids who go there turn out twice as bad as the people who go to public school.

"Yeah, my dad already enrolled me. Apparently it's one of the good non private schools around here. What's it like?" She's not the kind of person who likes being 'the new kid' and she's never really taken an interest in school. She'd rather be watching an action movie or be out with her dad learning new things. But when it comes down to school, she's good at it. She's fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and French and is teaching herself to lip-read. She's good at Maths and English and that's all that matters to her – that she passes – because school isn't something that will last forever.

"It's a really good school. Theres no uniform, but you have to wear appropriate clothes. They're strict on school work and homework, making sure you do it, they like people having good grades. It's clean, and bright I guess. People are nice, if you get in with the right crowd. But there will always be that group of guys and girls who think they're the best, so my friends and I just try to avoid them." Marty doesn't like that kind of crowd, they're obnoxious and rude. Not to mention they don't care about school work or anything besides the opposite sex, drugs, smoking and alcohol. It's disgusting. He knows better than to get in with that group of people. He wants to make a living for himself; he doesn't want to end up like his father in jail.

"That's good I guess, makes me less nervous and freaked out. I don't like moving around, but my father is in the marines so I don't have much of a choice. I put up with moving around every now and then because at the end of the day he's saving lives and I'd rather him do that than him do something else because I'm too selfish to move around." She smiles at the thought; knowing that she's helping her father save lives, because she moves house with him. She likes that feeling, that she's doing good for people.

"That's fair enough. I noticed you like Gel bracelets. They're cool, hip. Don't see them around much anymore, do you collect them?" He looks to her wrists, a few on one wrist and a bunch on the other. He can't help but think theres more where they came from. All multicoloured and randomly pushed up her hand.

"Yeah, I have like… seventy-two, or more; I kind of lost count after the seventies. My mum used to buy them for me whenever my dad had to go away. Now I just collect them for old memories." They're walking along the beach edge now along the footpath. She can see the diner he was talking about, it looks like it's been through a few bad storms and been patched up poorly.

"That's a lot; I don't collect anything besides surf boards. But then again, when you get a new one you leave the old one because you got a better one. So I guess I have a few in the back shed that have been collected." He opens the door for her then follows in after.

She realises that inside, the diner doesn't look all that bad. It's furnished with newer things, but still keeps the old 'diner' look t its name. "This is nicer then on the outside. I was beginning to think you were taking me to an old broken down place. My mistake." She smiles a little looking around; a Kensi smile, one that's not fully touching her eyes, and still guarding her heart.

The two of them walk up to the bench. She looks over the menu pondering on what to eat, theres so many choices. Cheeseburger with chips and salad, BLT, steak with mash potato and veggies or salad, sandwiches, salads, bowls of chips or wedges; anything you'd find in a normal restaurant. Then theres the deserts don't get her started on the - too late. Ice-cream, pancakes with ice-cream, cake, ice-cream cake, biscuits, cookies, slices, and last but definitely not least; donuts. She'd fallen and landed in heaven, this was amazing. For such a small place it sure had a lot of food.

"Trust me, the food is delicious" A lady walks over, she looks a little worn out, as if she's been working here for a long time. She has some grey hair coming from the black, and looks a little tired.

"Well good afternoon Marty, have you been for a surf yet? The beach looks lovely from here; I bet it's even better out there." She looks back to him and the girl, from having been staring out the window. She smiles politely then picks up a pen and notepad.

"I haven't yet, I was going to but well, this is Kensi. She's my new neighbour. Kensi this is Julie, she owns the diner." Marty smiles looking to Kensi then back to the menu board. Theres so much to choose from, that he has to really think about what he'll get.

"Hi Julie" Kensi smiles a little looking to the bakery type shelves. "Can I please have two donuts and a chocolate milkshake?" She's decided. And it's anything but healthy, but hell; she's Kensi Marie Blye, and she'll eat what she wants. Julie smiles writing the order down on the notepad then starts tapping the pen against the paper.

"And what will you have Marty?" She looks to him curiously. Julie knows that he takes his time, he likes variety and he's fussy. She's just thankful they came in after the lunch rush because otherwise he'd be holding up a line of customers.

"Okay. I've decided. I'll have a glass of lemon water and a burger with chips and salad." He takes out some cash once the total's been rung up on the register. He takes the change putting it back in his wallet and squishes it in his jeans.

"I'll bring the food out once it's done, take a seat." The two of them walk off to sit down at a table by the window while Julie walks out back into the kitchen.

"So what's lemon water? I've never heard of it." She props her elbows up on the table putting her hands into fists, resting her chin on her fingers.

"It's a little bit of lemon juice on the bottom of a glass, and the rest is water. It gives the water some flavour and it's refreshing. I take it you're not much of a health nut?" He'd noticed that she'd gotten a milkshake and donuts, tasty but to his liking.

"Not overly. I like what I like, so I may as well have what I like, and if it's fattening, I'd just work out or play some sports." She figures theres nothing wrong with eating unhealthily unless you do eat good food as well.

She looks around then outside to a group of kids that look about their age; three guys and a girl. The girl is short and petite, she has a brown pixie cut bob, and she's wearing ¾ shorts, ballet flats and a teal shirt. The guy beside her is wearing cargo shorts, flip flops and a plain shirt. Just slightly behind them is two guys, one with a darker skin tone to the other, a nice fitting red shirt and jeans, the other one is dressed slightly the same but is wearing a casual blue button up shirt. The four of them file in one after the other into the diner looking around before walking up to the counter.

:.:.:

**I'm sorry that it's short, but I'll update in a couple of days with a longer chapter. I kept tossing and turning between Kensi meeting the gang in this chapter; or the next. I came to a conclusion, and this is the outcome. I'm by no means great at writing, but I'm trying to improve. Constructive criticism is welcome. **

***Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you have no idea how much it means!  
Unless you write too, then you'll know what it feels like when people actually enjoy something you've come up with!**


	3. Set Ice to the Fire

**I can't tell you enough how sorry I am for the long wait between updates. So, without further ado, here is chapter three. The disclaimer still applies.**

:.:.:

She looks around after walking inside; it's cooler inside with the air conditioning. She spots Marty and walks over smiling. "Hi Marty! We all thought you'd be at the beach surfing. Oh, hi I'm Nell." She smiles politely slipping in beside the girl at the booth.

Kensi smiles politely a little confused, "Hey Nell, I'm Kensi. I take it your all friends with Marty?" She'd recognised the girl walk in with the other three guys and figured they're a group.

"Yep! How do you two know each other, are you dating? Oh Marty it's about time, now we can have another girl in the group and I won't be all alone!" Nell's smiling, almost jumping in her seat excitedly.

"Kensi isn't my girlfriend, she actually just moved into the house next door this morning so I offered to show her around a little." Nell actually thought he and Kensi were dating? Well, now he thinks about it, they were alone here together. So he can understand the thought; but they're just friends.

"Oh that's such a pity; you two would be that picture perfect high school couple in all those movies." Nell could see them together. They just seemed to 'fit' in her mind. It's a girl thing she decides, matchmaking is a girl thing, and she's pro at it; just not with herself.

"Thanks, I guess…" A smile forms onto Kensi's face. Nell's cute, petite. Like the girl from the Twilight books. The only difference is that Nell is real; though she would have made a good 'Alice' in the films. "Are your friends going to join us?" She looks back over to the group that she walked in with.

"I'll go invite them over!" She jumps up quickly scooting out of the booth. Kensi watches her make her way back over to the group who are ordering their food.

"So, tell me their names." Kensi looks from Nell to Marty. She smiles; he'd looked a little uncomfortable ever since Nell thought they were dating. Maybe he likes guys?

"Okay. The tall, dark skinned guy is Sam Hanna. He's been dating a girl for two years, her name is Rosemarie Lavelle. Everyone thinks that they'll be together forever, so do I, but nothing's set in stone. The guy next to him, short blonde hair, glasses, kind of nerdy I guess. Eric Beale, he's Seventeen since recently, he surfs like me. We get along pretty well.. He's dating Jenna White. She's in the popular group, but she's really nice." Marty smiles, he looks from his friends to out the window. It's such a nice sunny day, perfect for surfing, but he's inside, with a girl telling her all about his friends. She isn't just any girl though, she's Kensi. He can already tell she's different to other girls, she listens. Unknown to him, he has a lot to learn about Miss Kensi Marie Blye.

He looks back to Kensi from the window to continue informally introducing his friends. "You've already met Nell, she's really smart. I don't even know her IQ. She should be at a school with a better learning process, which can keep up with her instead of her having to wait behind for everyone else in the class. She doesn't mind though, she'd rather be here with us. We're all family I guess. She's not going out with anyone, which brings me to G. they both kind of deny the fact that they're good for each other. Sometimes it's amusing, sometimes it's just plain aggravating, but they're best friends so I can understand why they wouldn't want to ruin it." She watches him as he speaks, his eyes staring into hers, lost in memories that must be playing in his head. He smiles.

"G? Is that his name, or just what you call him?" She's a little confused, why would someone name their son 'G' a single letter. She has nothing against people naming their children a single letter from the alphabet, it's just weird.

"He's a mystery. Nobody knows his first name, just the G." Marty shrugs, he's been through this with quite a few people at school, always wanting to know if it was his actual name, a G.

"What about his parents, or his birth certificate? Someone has to know his name, right?" This is truly incongruous. His parents if anyone would know their son's name, right? Hell, his mother gave birth to him, she would have obviously had some input to the name, and she has to know what the G stands for, if it stands for anything at all.

"He never knew his father, it's presumed he left when his mother found out she was pregnant. And his mother was killed; shot, murdered. He had a sister but they got separated with child services. When their mother was killed they were put into foster homes. He's been to thirty seven, but he's living with Eric's family now; they took him in. Really unlikely pair, but they get along really well; which is good because now G doesn't have to move around anymore. He and Nell flirt a lot, they're best friends and they would be great together but I don't think he wants to jump to the next step just yet." She's drinking her chocolate milkshake whilst staring up at him through her long eyelashes. He decides she looks cute. "And that's my group of friends."

"Your friends are… interesting. They're coming over." The two of them move over in the booth to make room for the other four. Nell, Kensi and G are sitting on one side, and on the other sits Marty, Eric then Sam.

Everyone's eating their lunch, too busy with shoving food down their throats to bother holding up a conversation. That is, until Nell speaks up. "If you two aren't busy for the rest of the day, we could all go down t he road to the ice skating rink and hang out. They have Skate-Saturdays where it only costs half as much for admission and the skates. And before you go and complain," Nell purposely looks at the guys, eyeing them all before continuing "It will be fun."

Kensi was up for it, she'd ice skated a little over the years, and it'd be nice to get out of the LA sun for a while. "Sure, It'll get us out of the heat for a while."

G, Sam, Eric and Marty all had slightly the same thoughts going through their heads, from; I'd rather surf, to playing video games or visiting the local gym. Instead, they all nodded against their will. Knowing Nell, she'd find a way to make them go anyway.

Nell's beaming; this new girl – Kensi – is the best thing that's happened to this group in a long while! She'll finally have someone to girl talk with apart from her sister. "Tremendous."

:.:.:

An hour later the group had finished their lunch and left the little diner, walking down the street a few blocks to the ice rink. They'd all been skating around in circles for about ten minutes before one of them fell. Sam slipped and had fallen back, his feet going out from under him. He yelped a little before trying to get up, the rest of them looked over and laughed.

They got snacks from the little café just off the ice rink; it was heated inside the café, not as cold as in the ice rink. They'd all fallen down countless amounts of times, even while walking on the rubber flooring in skates. They laughed, and joked about how they'd all be sore for the next week, with likely blisters on their ankles and back injuries from falling so much. After leaving the ice rink, they all went their separate ways until it was just Kensi and Marty again.

She'll admit it, to herself and to people who asks. She doesn't go out and do much, because she'd rather sit at home and watch movies. But today had been one of the most incredible days she'd ever had. She hadn't stopped laughing once Sam had fallen down; it was like the titanic sinking, only hilarious. She'd fallen numerous times, partly because Marty and she had been bantering and she'd not noticed clump of shaved ice and fallen down bringing him down with her.

They turn the corner and walk up to their houses. "I don't know if you were expecting to run into your friends today, but I'm glad we did. I had the most fun I've had in ages. So, thank you." She smiles looking to him; his hands are in his pockets as he stares at the ground while they walk. She's not big on manners, she's not too classy, but she's glad they hung out.

He's smiling inside, and he's forcing himself not to smile as bright on the outside, but he does. "I didn't plan on them being there, no. But I'm glad you had fun, I did too. I'm going to have a bruise on my leg now from falling down, thanks for that" He laughs a little; he knows she didn't mean to pull her down. It's just a natural instinct to grab onto something or someone when you're going down.

"Oh, you know my pleasure." She laughed a real laugh. Not that laughter girls do when they couldn't care less, or they're faking, bur a real Kensi Blye laugh. Her teeth showing, lips in the form of a smile and laughter pouring from her mouth; probably one of the most beautiful thing's Marty will ever see in his life.

They both say their goodbyes and walk into their houses. She grabs the mail on the way in, junk mail. "Hey dad, I'm home!" She walks through the front door – after opening it, she's not a ghost – and makes her way to the delectable smells of food cooking in the kitchen.

He's cooking burgers, or rather the meat patty's in the frying pan over the oven, and putting lettuce, tomato and sauce onto the bread roll's he'd picked up earlier. He's not much of a cook, but he knows how to follow a recipe, or make something quick and tasty like burgers. "Hey Kens, how was your day?"

She makes her way over to the bench and leans against it propping her elbows on the bench and her chin in her hands. "It was great; I actually had one of the best days in a long time. Marty took me to this little diner by the beach, and his group of friends came in and joined us, then this girl, Nell, she suggested we go to the ice rink a few blocks down, and so we did. Then I came home. I'm going to have bruises on my ankles for a while. We all fell over, a lot."

He smiles, he's glad she likes it here. They'll be here for a while seeing as he's requested to be stationed here instead of moving. "That's good, here, take your burger and go pick something on TV or a movie." He passes her the plate with her now fully made to perfection, or near perfection burger.

She takes the plate then makes her to the lounge room, turning the TV on and sitting back on the couch. Her father comes over and sits beside her. They eat their burgers and watch re-runs of _Full House_.

"I'll see you in the morning bug. Goodnight, have great dreams." He puts his empty plate on the coffee table then kisses her forehead before getting up and walking upstairs to his bedroom.

"Goodnight dad, I love you too!" She smiles, putting her plate down beside his. First step to making this house a home: dirty dishes on the coffee table, check. She gets up, making her way to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She turns the TV and the lights off before ascending upstairs to her bedroom. She puts the water beside her bed on the side table, then goes off to have a shower.

She comes back to her bedroom in blue pyjama shorts and a loose concert t-shirt that was once her fathers. She claimed it as hers ever since she was little and he would go away. It's quite possibly her favourite shirt she owns, but refuses to wear outside of the house.

She walks over to the window at the front to close the curtains before walking over to the side window. This window – in particular – faces the Deeks house, and a certain someone's bedroom. She stops just as he pulls his shirt over his head, revealing a toned stomach, not nearly as ripped as some guys she's seen around, but toned enough to look good on him. She pushes the window open and crosses her arms. "You know, you might want to shut your blinds when you get dressed; especially if you take more off then just your shirt." She points over his body. He looks mighty fine.

He looks over, out the window while he chucks his shirt in the dirty clothes basket. "You were spying on me? Oh Fern, you shouldn't have. We live next door, you just had to knock!" He smiles, a playful smile.

"Fern? Where did that come from? And I was the one shutting my curtains when someone decided to start stripping in front of me!" She's mad, he's smiling playfully and it's irritating her, bad. Like the itch you get when you're wearing skinny jeans, and you can't itch it; THAT bad.

"It's the name I'm giving you, just roll with it. And I was not stripping. I was merely changing into my pyjamas. By the way, yours look cute. Like your shirt, Fern!" She groans and slams her curtains shut. What a pain in the butt!

"GOODNIGHT DEEKS." She turns to her bed, crawling under the covers to get warm.

"Deeks? That's my surname Fern, come on. That's just, really?" He groans before shutting his blinds, to finish getting changed.

"Kens? Who are you talking to in there?" He stands by her door in the hallway, an eyebrow raised. His daughter wasn't really talking to herself was she? No, she can't be, she's not crazy Kensi.

"No one, goodnight dad!" She turns off the lamp beside her bed then sinks down into her pillows. She has to face it, face the facts that her next door neighbour is completely annoying. And hot, but annoying.

He slides under his blankets and smiles; they'd given one another nick names, even if his was his surname. He turns the light off beside him and slowly falls asleep, thinking about all the possible names he could use to get her back with.

:.:.:

**Okay, so I hope you like it so far. If you think I should keep writing this story, leave a review saying so because I'm not too sure whether to continue. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed for the 1****st**** and 2****nd**** chapters. **

**By the way, I'm currently addicted to tumblr. My best friend and I – Tash – run a Densi blog, just type into the search bar : .com - without the brackets. **


	4. If Only They Knew

**Thank you to everyone who reviews! My laptop's buttons – a few of them – stopped working, so I brought out a stupid old crappy one. If theres any mistakes, which there will be; they're all mine. My lucky number is four, so I hope this chapter's good! You can find our DENSI tumblr on my page.  
Disclaimer will always apply.**

:.:.:

Sunday passes as a blur, Kensi and her father unpack as many boxes as they can. They go out to get some snacks and bring back pizza. They eat their pizza on the couch and go over Kensi's route to school. She'll be walking to school, along the beach seeing as theres no school busses that take the route around to their area. They both file off to their bedrooms and drift off to sleep.

Sunday morning is a lazy day for Marty and his mother; he makes pancakes and finishes off some homework before heading down to the beach for the good part of the afternoon. He comes home to dinner with his Aunt and Uncle, they talk about the little things, and how they'll see each other for Christmas. He gets to bed around ten thirty and falls asleep just as his head hits the pillow.

:.:.:

It's seven o'clock on a Monday morning and Kensi's father is long gone. She makes her way downstairs to grab a chocolate milk carton from the fridge along with a couple of donuts from the box on the bench. She walks over to the lounge, turning on the TV and starts her unhealthy but to a great extent, a tasty breakfast.

After making her way upstairs to get ready for the day she comes back downstairs wearing casual jeans, an elbow length white top and red converse shoes with an over the shoulder bag and picks up the envelope with her name written on it off the kitchen bench.

_Kensi,  
I've put $15 in your bank account for lunch at school each day for a month. I've also put extra in our conjoined bank account in case I have to stay late at work, feel free to help yourself to take out. Love Dad._

She throws the letter in the bin and smiles. She walks over to the door picking up her keys from the little bowl on the bench beside the door squishing them into her jean pockets before exiting the house.

:.:.:

He's waiting by the front window, slightly peeking out the side of the curtain, watching her front white picket fence. He'd been ready for ten minutes, waiting for her to leave the house so they could walk together. Call him cheesy, but he likes her; and that's all that matters.

He can't even remember liking a girl as much as he does Kensi. She's got that smile, that only comes out every now and then and even if he's only known her for a couple of days, it turns him into a pool of mush.

When he notices her walking down the front footpath he jumps up pulling his bag over his shoulders as he heads straight out the door.

"Hey Fern, nice shoes" Her shoes are bright red, her favourite too – high tops. They look like the kind of shoes she wears a lot, seeing as they're pretty worn out.

"Hi Deeks, yours are alright too." His shoes look like crap, but she won't say that. That'd be mean, and even though she does mean, he's one of her only friends here. And he's her neighbour, with a clear view into her bedroom if she doesn't shut her curtains. Face it, she's stuck with him. For good, or until she moves again; but she has a feeling she's going to like it here.

"Thanks, so how's unpacking going?" He looks to her as they walk down the end of their street and cross the road to walk along the footpath just beside the beach. He loves living here, being so close to the beach, his friends and living next door to a hot girl. Life could not be better.

She kicks a stone, over and over. She even goes out of her way to continue kicking it like a soccer ball. "Boring, dreadful, terrible, horrible, wastes my time, so much effort – need I go on?" She gives him a small smile as he slips his hands into his jean pockets.

"I think I get the message. I take it you don't like unpacking a mountain of boxes…?" He knows she doesn't, he can already tell she's the kind of girl who would rather sit and watch a crappy reality TV show about rich people and their dramas and eat donuts and drink chocolate milkshakes. It's not that she doesn't look that athletic or anything, just that she's one of the people who would rather sit and do nothing, then things that are downright boring.

"Exactly. I hate moving, I hate it with a passion. I've moved so much that I figure I may as well keep everything in boxes and just take out the things I need, rather than decorating a house that I will get up and move away from after a year." She just doesn't see the point in decorating, and putting in effort to something when you're just going to leave shortly afterwards.

"That's fair enough. It must get frustrating moving around a lot… I wouldn't know, I've only ever lived in one other house before the one I live in now. I moved a few months after my Eleventh birthday. My father had just gone to jail and my mum decided a fresh start was what we needed." He doesn't know why, but he feels that she'll understand, that she won't judge his family history and that she'll listen to him.

She looks around a bit before pressing the button to cross the road, the school's a hundred metres up the road, it looks nice. It's the first time she'll be seeing everything, her father went in and enrolled her without her. "How come your father's in jail?" She's curious, who wouldn't be? He's so nice and polite that it's hard to believe his father could be worse.

"He was a drunk, and abusive. I don't remember much, because I don't want to. But I shot him in self defence when I was eleven. The police came, locked him up and he's been there ever since. After that my mum couldn't stand being in that house, so we moved." It's rare to catch him telling people about his father. No one really cares enough to ask, so he doesn't tell which makes it harder for him to tell people when they do ask. It's just one of those things that should stay buried and left alone; not dug up.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know…" She looks away, feeling bad. But she wasn't to know so she can't blame herself. She's just saying sorry that he had the misfortune of having that man as his father, he's so nice and caring that he should have a father figure to look up to; like she looks up to her dad.

"It's okay Fern, I didn't expect you to know. Anyway, ready for your first day at M. Flints High?" He looks over to her as they stand outside the school gates. She looks nervous. Nervous as in the 'oh my god, new school, new people, new teachers, I don't know where to go!' kind of look.

Yeah, Kensi Marie Blye is nervous, she hates new schools, and she hates change. But she can adapt easily, one of the things her father taught her to do. Everything is easier if you go with the flow, instead of trying to stand out, sure it's good to stand out and be unique, but she wants to keep a low profile. She hates it when people stare at her just because she's 'the new kid'.

She doesn't understand it. Why it's so fascinating. What's so fantastic about a new human being coming to a school? It's not like she's an alien or anything. She looks fine, she's content with herself and likes the way she looks; she wouldn't change it for anything. She's just nervous, every single time she has to enter a new school. She's been to so many that she has trouble remembering any of the schools names. It's not her fault, she just moves a lot.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She lets out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding and walks up with Deeks.

They walk up the couple of stairs and push the doors open walking in. He's leading her through, or so she thinks. She has no idea where they're going until he takes the first left down the hallway. It takes them to an open space with chairs along the walls, a couple of doors towards the back and a desk bang smack in the middle of the room. They walk up to it.

"Hey Luana, this is Kensi Blye. She's starting today." The lady looks up to Marty then to Kensi. She smiles. She has dark skin, brown hair with blondish highlights and an earpiece. She's stunning.

"Ah yes, Miss Blye. Here is your time table, your school planner, and a five subject book for your subjects. I trust you have pens; otherwise I'm sure Marty will kindly give you one. Is there anything else?" She puts everything in a pile on the bench above the desk.

She takes everything and finds a spot for it all in her bag, slipping her time table into her school planner. "Thanks. I'm pretty sure that's all I need anyway, and," She turns to Deeks, smirking. "I do have a pen."

"Oh thank god, It would have been disastrous if you didn't bring a writing utensil with you." He rolls his eyes walking down the hallway. They take a left, walking down the row of lockers. "Your locker number is 143. Which is… Here." He stops by the locker pulling it open. "Your locker code is on your timetable, and your first class is in C2, which is that door over there." He points over to it as she chucks her bag into her locker.

"Are you a physic or something?" He looks confused, so she continues "I mean how you knew my locker and what class I had first." He gets her now, and the reaction on his face proves it. He smirks.

"I'm physic Fern. I'm a magician, I'm just that talented. You jealous?" He smiles one of his most amazing smiles that lift's his eyes, shows his teeth and his cheeks go higher.

"I'm so not jealous." She takes out her planner and five subject book, shoving a pen down the spiral of the book before shutting her locker and spinning the little dial. She walks off to her class without taking a look back.

"You're so jealous Fern! Don't lie to me." People look at him, raising eyebrows. He looks around a little before walking down a few metres to his locker.

:.:.:

Kensi was introduced in every single class before lunch, and undoubtedly she would be afterwards too. Guys looked over her, checked her out; probably because they figured she was new 'meat'. She lost count of how many times she restrained herself from hitting them.

When she walked into the cafeteria, people still stared. So she worked it, she decided to just own it. To not care about the mountains of people staring at her, and just strut her stuff over to the lunch bar. It was clearly labelled above the benches, on a sign hanging from the roof, 'LUNCH BAR'.

She orders a sandwich, donuts and a can of coke. Walking up to the register, she pays. "Hey Kensi, how's your first day so far?" Nell walks over; paying the lady at the register then stands beside Kensi, who's looking around the cafeteria.

"Okay, do the teachers have to introduce me to the students in every class I attend? It's really getting on my nerves." By the end of the day, everyone in school will know who she is. And she's one of those people who would rather keep a low profile then stand out like a celebrity in a small town.

"I think they do it just to annoy you. But I guess we'll never know, are you going to sit with us?" The look on Nell's face is hopeful, it'll be nice to have another girl sit with them at lunch. Sure Rosemarie – Sam's girlfriend – sit's with them, but she's there with Sam. Kensi will be here because they're her friends, not because she has a boyfriend at the table whom she has lunch with everyday.

"Sure, it'll be better than sitting with complete strangers or by myself." Nell leads her over to the back corner a little, and that's when she sees them. "Keep your head down. Don't make eye contact; like it's your life that's on the line."

The popular girls, dressed in the most atrocious colour known to girls; pink. The colour isn't so bad itself; it's just the matter of how much you wear. Three of them, two flanking the blonde girl either side of her. "You're Densi, right? I don't even care how unbearable your name is, you're hot. Want to sit with us?" She smiles, perfectly aligned teeth that are so bright they threaten to blind you.

"Kensi, with a K. Anyway, I already have friends to sit with; but thanks anyway." Kensi and Nell walk off a little before being stopped.

"It wasn't a question Kensi, your sitting with us; your good eye-candy for our table. Kapeesh? By the way, I'm Stacey, that's Sarah" She nods to the girl on her right, brown hair with horrible blonde highlights that look yellow. She's wearing a hot pink dress that's identical to the other girl behind Stacey; only the other girl has a light pink dress on. She has blonde hair with pink dip dyed ends. They look horrible. "And she's Amy. They're twins." Obviously not identical.

"Look, Stacey. Kensi isn't sitting with you. So just leave her alone, she's not interested in dating every guy in school." With that, Nell walks over to the table angrily. She hates Stacey, she's a b-i-t-c-h and doesn't know what to do with her life without a poodle in her hand bag, and a boy at her feet. Nell sits down at the table beside G, she stabs her food with the plastic fork.

"What a loser. Her smartness is getting to her brain; poor girl." This coming from a girl who has a poodle in her handbag.

"Whatever, at least she has a brain unlike someone who's is filled with nothing but pink." She decides that she will never be able to wear pink again, ever. Kensi makes her way over to the table, smiling a little before sitting down beside Deeks. She picks up her donut, before she can eat it, it's gone. "Deeks!"

"A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips." He wags his finger at her, like a parent would do to a child who's misbehaving.

"I don't even know what that means…" She snatches her powdered donut back and without further interruption, she eats it. It's gone so fast that Deeks considers entering her into a donut eating competition; she'd place in the top three without a doubt.

Sam and G decide to make a bet on how long it'll take them to get together. They both pass Nell their $20 notes for safe keeping. Eric and Rosemarie both decide to join in and hand their money in. All in all, Eric was betting with Sam and Rosemarie that it'd be about a month, but after seeing the look G passed him, he thought better of it and switched to G's team. They're betting less than a month.

Both Kensi and Deeks are oblivious to the bet's being placed on themselves. If only they knew.

:.:.:

He looks to her, smiling slightly before continuing back into the conversation. She's intelligent, her eyes, her cute nose, her smile and the way it lights up when she's happy, the frown that crosses her face when she's worried, her short hair is perfect, she's perfect; to him. It's only then, he realises he does like her, enough to want to start something more; something more than just their friendship where they push each other back and forth; theres a place for them both in his heart, a place for 'us'.

He's realised that they can't just be friends; Nell & G can' just be 'friends' they'll always be something more, more than friends. Sure, he's calm and collected but when it comes to asking out a girl he likes, or rather; really likes, he's a nervous wreck. He'll plan it out, even if it means he'll over analyse things, which is what she normally does. He decides on the perfect first date. Now just to put it into action and things could be great.

:.:.:

Lunch passed, the group talked and laughed about the most pointless things, but the most pointless things were the most interesting. Nell and Kensi are walking down the hallway to their class; they have history. The two of them walk to the back and sit down at the conjoined desk. Their teacher; Mr. M gives the class a lecture. Kensi's holding her head up with the palm of her hand, her elbow on the table. She's bored. So is Nell, because they're basically in the same positions, only Nell is holding her head up with both hands.

"You will all have an assignment due in two weeks. Your partner will be the student beside you. Pick a country and write two thousand words about the country. Are there any questions?" The sounds of moans and groans filled the small classroom. Nobody raises their hand.

Nell speaks up first, "Have you got a favourite country?" She has a few, England being her first favourite – she likes the rain, it's great for drinking hot chocolate and sitting on the couch reading a book with a blanket wrapped around you to keep warm.

"Probably England, if it were states we could have done Hawaii." Hawaii is her home away from home. It's comforting, sunny and paradise. She's been there on numerous occasions, and taken residence there for a few months while her father had work.

"England it is then! It's my favourite too. I've always wanted to go on vacation in Hawaii, but my parents would never be able to afford it with two daughters and a son who finds fun in mischief. But once I move out and into my own apartment I'm going to save up after college and go." She's seriously undeniably excited about moving out. She's the type of person who's content with themselves, and doesn't need someone to tell them that. She'll enjoy living by herself; she's just that kind of person.

:.:.:

For the rest of the class, Kensi and Nell discuss the assignment, planning everything out. Kensi's not really the type to plan things out as much as Nell is, but it will get the assignment over and done with, so she really can't complain.

After class she makes her way to her locker, 143; I Love You. Well, she couldn't have gotten a better locker number; the number actually means something other than just a number. She push's everything into her bag and pulls it over her shoulder flicking her locker closed, spinning the dial.

Deeks ends up catching up with Kensi and they walk home together. She tells him about her day, and about how Stacey is a complete and utter gank that she wants to punch in the face and deliver a broken nose. He can't help but laugh, because nearly everybody wants to do that. He tells her the people to avoid, and the people who aren't so bad.

She likes his company; it's comforting, reassuring that there are nice guys out there and not just jerks. "See you later Fern." He grins as he walks up the front steps to his house.

"Goodbye Deeks!" She unlocks the front door groaning. Where the hell did he get 'Fern' from? It's a stupid name. But apparently it's hers for now.

Checking the answering machine on her way in, she finds that her dad left a message saying he'll be away for the night and be back tomorrow afternoon. She picks up the phone and orders a pizza before setting herself down on the couch to watch _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_.

:.:.:

**Okay, so please review if you liked the chapter & or think I should continue. It's the longest by just under or around one thousand words. **

**P.S- You can find my friend (Tash) and my Densi Tumblr on my page. **

**Thanks for reading! **


	5. Falling Apart

**Get ready for a long A/N, sorry!**

**I'm sorry that I'm updating late, like… a lot late. I have a lot of things that I could say, as to why I haven't put up a chapter in so long. But I doubt you all want to hear, so here you go. I apologise that it's short, I had a lot of trouble writing it.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, this is dedicated to** '**LoVE – Catarina' for the PM and her kind words and for giving me that extra motivation to continue. :)**

**I'm not sure how this all works, with the police and social worker for people under eighteen, so any mistakes are mine. Disclaimer still applies.**

**:.:.:**

She's running through the backyards of her neighbours, climbing fence after fence until she reaches the end of the street before turning and running along the edge of the footpath. Hidden in the darkness of the shrubs, blending into her surroundings she keeps running. The backpack is heavy, but she doesn't let it slow her down. She wouldn't let herself be taken away by complete strangers. Not when she can survive on her own from everything her father had taught her.

Although she could have gone to Deeks' house and stayed with him and his mother. The police would check, seeing as they probably knew about their phone conversations every day for the past four months. They had begun to hang out a lot over the last four months since she had moved in next door. Nearly every day they would hang out, watch movies, eat pizza or just go down to the beach and visit the café on the corner.

But she can't. Because his mother would want to do what's best for her. And sometimes what's best for her really isn't. So instead, Kensi took things into her own hands and ran away. After having slammed the door in the police face, claiming she had to use the bathroom and would be right back.

That was five minutes ago.

..

She had spent the day with Deeks. Watching crappy TV shows, and trying to make chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes didn't go so well, and most of it ended up everywhere but where it was meant to. But to say they didn't have fun would be to lie.

Her father was meant to be arriving home any minute. But he's not who showed up at her front door. Instead it was the police along with two men who were dressed head to toe in uniform; Marines. The look on their faces told her everything, but so little at the same time. How could her father be killed? He's amazing at everything. Everything except house work, but that's not the point. How could her father be killed, knowing he'd leave her behind? Knowing he'd leave her behind, all alone; the one who looked up to him as if he knew all the answers to life's problems. He wouldn't leave her, he couldn't. It just wasn't possible.

The men went on talking, but she couldn't hear them. All she could hear was her thoughts racing through her head, what would she do? Where would she go? It was pretty much all answered when the policemen said there would be a social worker here in ten minutes, to take her to a foster family for a while until they figured out a place for her to stay. That's when she excused herself to the bathroom, and made a run for it. Running straight upstairs for the hallway cupboard, she took out the backpack left for emergencies. For just in case she and her father had to leave because they weren't safe there anymore. The bag, packed with all the essentials; food and water to last at least a month, a key card with a couple of grand in a fake name, along with a wad of cash. A sleeping bag, spare changes of clothes and everything you need to survive anywhere.

Pulling her bag onto her back, she pulls her shoes and socks on and runs to her father's room, picking up a photograph of them both. It was the day he taught her to hotwire a small plane. A day she'll never forget, because it was one of the most exciting things she'd ever gotten to do. She puts the photo into her bag and then opens the door of the balcony from her dad's room, shutting it behind her. She drops her bag down then climbs over the railing before sliding down the pole to help the balcony stay standing. Picking up her bag, she runs and doesn't look back.


End file.
